it's here! (another game i can't play edition)

oh yeah, it happened again.

while i really appreciate the thought and hooking up with a new company is rad, sega of america skimmed my e-mail requesting review copies and information and plunked a ps3 version of condemned 2 into a ups envelope and sent it through the wonderful courier network.

so we're at this again.

the real issue here is that i'm forced into a corner where i have to question my dedication to the craft i'm so badly trying to break into.

a) i can just say 'f-it', leave the game and go on to one of the many other reviews i still need to write.

b) i can tell sega that they sent me the wrong platform for this game, and probably receive no response or potentially piss them off so they don't send me more (which is a probable case in choice a as well).

c) i can try to find a way to get a ps3.

but the third option has me troubled. while i knew i would eventually need to figure this issue out, i didn't know it would be this fast.

i'm at a point where it may be an issue of committing to this crazy venture to the point where my other hobbies become subjugated by my job. i may have to get rid of a piece of guitar gear to fully commit.

see, i've got a tube amp i've stopped using and it would probably sell for about the same price as a ps3. it's like that scene in back to the future iii. the point of no return.

if i make that decision, there's no turning back. i've got to get that De Lorean back to the future or crash and burn in clayton eastwood ravine.

or better yet, work might pay for one.

either way it's feeling kind of symbolic like a training montage in a rocky flick.

will give deets when there are some to give.

peace be the journey,

JD

really hope this is the last time i mention the bully patch...

but unfortunately i have to report that it basically doesn't do much.

while at first, i thought, hey, no freezing, i failed to think about the fact that, patchless, i hadn't had a freeze since i got out of chapter one.

my audio was still wonky in some cutscenes, the graphics are far from perfect and stutter at the oddest of times but i was happy.

then, last night, it happened.

i was playing the final level, which i won't divulge the content to for fear of spoiling the game for others, but after i had completed 90% of my tasks, it froze.

i was entering a building (which goes to a quick loading screen every time) and the screen went black and my 360 was out cold.

i tried to get the 360 menu, restart it with the controller and even waited 2 minutes to see if it was just a stall. but no, it froze...again.

so i guess the patch needs to be patched, and i'm kind of bored about writing on it now.

wishing for a flaw-free game to play,

JD

rock band for wii questions answered, and how!

this came out this morning so i'm sure it's old news, but after all my speculating yesterday, ea have put the niggling questions i had to rest.

- still no dlc, but there may be some day
- it's basically a port of the ps2 version, and lack everything that version lacked
- there will be no 'waggle' wii-specific controls
- no wiimotes are necessary
- it will ship with a usb hub like the 360 version
- the instruments will come in 'wii' colours (ie. white)
AND
- you can't use your guitar hero iii guitar(s)

so there you have it folks. you can play rock band on wii, but you've gotta get all new peripherals and hope that the regular setlist plus the five bonus songs, will keep you interested enough to merit the $169 price tag.

it really is a good game, and i'd be hard pressed not to recommend it to wii owners thinking of grabbing a copy. my only issue is still with the guitar hero iii guitar compatibility and the lack of additional songs available through dlc.

they're small points but still annoying since the 360 and PS3 versions are fully featured.

JD

neat finds: rock band on wii

forever rumoured, but only recently confirmed, rock band is indeed coming to wii.

the best fake guitar game that adds drums and downloadable content five bonus songs, will be out on june 22nd.

and, what's that? you want a second guitar to go with it?

as part of the release announcement, harmonix also said that the peripherals for wii will come out the same day.

it also doesn't mention whether you can use the gh:iii guitars that were made for the wii with rock band for wii. but that seems like dangerous waters to tread after last time.

rockin out with my wii out,

JD

first notes: rainbow six vegas 2

checked out a small little bite of rainbow six vegas 2 this weekend and i was of two minds.

first off - wow. cool. i really didn't know that a tactical shooter could be fun and not too complex for my anti fps/third person shooter brain.

i was using snake cams, organizing flash bang breach entries and hitting head shots within an hour of play. it got really fun.

but just as quickly, it got damn hard.

second - level of difficulty. now i know i'm not the best gamer out there and this is new territory for me but damnnnnnnnn!

it's just so easy to die in this game.

i even have the skill setting on 'casual' but you can still die in 2-3 shots and the ai (while dumb every so often) has super human sight which makes planning a must. this can either make or break each scenario.

the puzzle solving side of my brain is delighted that there is more than one approach to each task, but the frustrated 5 year old inside me can only take about an hour or so of this game at a time before getting disgruntled and annoyed.

i cleared a chapter fairly quickly, but am now stuck in a stand off that has me on the top floor of a night club, not able to descend down the stairs without being picked off. i have a feeling it has something to do with some cover down there i can't see, but because of the fact that i can't see it, how the hell can i get down there?

argh.

i do like it though, and my final thoughts will be encapsulated in a review in another week, once i'm further through.

sniping ur dudes in ur base,

JD

bully patch redux mk. ii

so i guess i gave you guys geese too early.

supposedly, according to kotaku, bully is patched as of today at 4:30pm Eastern.

have at it and get to some boy kissing wedgies!

happy easter,

JD

bully patch redux (and geese too!)

so, just a quick last note.

once again, rockstar are being jerks about this whole bully thing.

firstly, they've made another announcement that they will make an announcement (WHAT!?!?) tomorrow concerning the bully patch.

huh?

i guess they're all playing fully-patched versions of bully on 360, in between marathon gta IV sessions (which has probably long-ago gone gold, in glitch free versions) sipping margaritas and getting ready for the "BEST EASTER EVAR!!!".

or maybe i'm being a little harsh, but that note still seems cryptic.

i hope it means they're going to release the patch and maybe a small gift for those that have been waiting...like maybe some free dlc? a chance to beta test gta IV?

i'm not hopeful, but otherwise this is just a whole lot more teasing.

i may pull out my hair if they announce that we have another week left since they already fell through on their other promise.

to cheer you up, you bully fanatics you. here are some pictures of real live CANADIAN GEESE which i saw walking a few feet away from me in the parking lot near my work.







GEESE!

JD

it's here! (rainbow six vegas 2 edition)

finally got my copy of rsv2! pretty darn excited to get it up and running as i've heard good things.

i may not be a good fps-er (or third person shooter), and i may have sucked the big one at the original rainbow six-which, to be fair, i played a total of 1 time(s)-but i've been told they've scaled the play a bit so that even the worst fps-er who didn't play a call of duty, rainbow six or anything of the like, can have fun playing.

so even i have a chance!

i will definitely be booting up the campaign mode this weekend when i go back home for some family visit time at least in between rounds of bully and rock band.

gonna love me some vegas tactical shooter.

will post impressions once i get it in the ol' 360.

later days,

JD

three (fairly obvious) reasons why i think xbox will win the (2008) console war

so this is a weird topic for me, i realize, as most times i keep my opinion to myself (ha!) but i was thinking about this topic and it suddenly dawned on me.

i have a wii. i have a ds. i have a 360 and i will probably have a ps3 before too long. but there are a few select reasons why i just can't stop playing 360 and i think they're fairly universal.

even though, as i've mentioned, they're patently obvious, i thought my stunning insights were worth a blog post for those wii-ers who don't understand the appeal of a 360 (me 8 months ago) or diehard sony fanatics that have either blindly adopted the ps3 or couldn't let go of the ps2 (me 2 years ago).

achievement points, price of used games, sheer catalogue,

1) achievement points

i know. i know. i didn't want this to be a factor. but after only a scant few months of playing games on my 360, i've found out one important fact.

achievement points are addictive.

that's just a fact, like cheese-strings are awesome and the pope has to have 6'9" doorways so he won't hit his hat.

i swore to myself that i would never become a slave to achievement points or even care, but i've become addicted to that little 'boop' noise and the phrase 'achivement unlocked!'.

sony and nintendo have no counter to this and haven't even bothered to copy it.

2) catalogue

the 360 has just been around longer. there are more good games on it than any other console because of that.

that, and the fact that the wii had an extremely rough start for everything but first party-ie. nintendo-made-titles because of how new the platform was and how difficult it was to design for.

the ps3 has little excuse as they somehow went from the most sought-after console that everyone was willing and wanted to design for to the one with the bad reputation for being hard to design on and that everyone actively avoids.

3) price of games

and this is the clincher for me and many other people. even if you set aside used games, which some people do, because it's a dirty business where eb (or gamestop if you're in the US) make a ton of money and developers still struggle to stay afloat, there are the platinum titles and price cuts galore.

wii games never go on sale. and the good ones don't even depreciate more than $5 to $10 as used games! as of now there is no such thing as a wii greatest hits title, and therefore great games like super mario galaxy, no more heroes and even excitetruck (which was a launch title!) stay the same price forever.

ps3 games just seem expensive in general, they've not been around long enough for greatest hits and like the wii games, don't seem to get into the 'easy to buy' category because of high prices.

it's easy to walk into a game store and leave with a couple $10 or $20 games that are still great but came out in maybe 2006. it's harder to leave with a couple of $50, $60 or even $70 (on the ps3) games. you have to be way more choosy.

just a thought,

JD

tid-bittal update

just a few notes to keep the brain juices flowing.

bully patch?

first, rockstar proved both themselves and me to be liars as the bully patch has still not surfaced.

after surfing various forums on this topic it seems that the general mood can be summed up into three categories:

1) exceedingly upset that they mentioned a date they couldn't stick to-which was a week and should have had it out by friday.*

2) refusing to open their copy until the patch is released-so, i guess, they can take it back if the patch isn't released?

3) are imploring everyone to remain calm as the patch is still on it's way, rockstar just shouldn't have promised it would be out so soon. supposedly it's already with microsoft QA-which i believe i mentioned in an earlier post-and that can sometimes take a couple of weeks.

smash bros. brawl

so i finally dug into the subspace emissary mode in earnest this weekend and i can safely come to the conclusion that it was not designed by a platformer designer.

crap if it isn't flawed.

it just seems that every other level you have impossible jumps, lose all your men, and have completely ambiguous goals.

the most important part to understand in platform video game design (to me) is that everything should serve a purpose in telling the 'story' of the game. nowhere recently has this been most evident to have been ignored than in smash bros sse mode.

there are times when you go through a door and just walk a short distance until the level fades out. i was left yelling at the tv, why is that there?

and sometimes, like in the snake challenge, you're not quite sure what you have to do to open a door you just see lights flashing. at first i thought i was doing it wrong because i kept seeing alarm lights, but then i figured out that was actually me unlocking one of the four sets of doors to progress further.

too often am i backtracking un-necessarily because nothing in the game is explicitly clear.

that said, now that i've tried some more characters and had some time to brawl a little more, it is fun.

the fighting is great, snake works-which was unexpected-and it's a good buy. it won't be a 10/10 for my review like everyone else, but there is a lot to do in brawl, even if they actual combat hasn't evolved that much.

rock band

so, after having my copy of rock band for a few months now, this weekend was my first real multiplayer experience.

my buddy andrew was over and we went through a nice little chunk of the game with him on guitar, my fiancee jen on bass and myself helming the band from the drum throne.

definitely a better experience than the single player venture and i'm beginning to understand why it's such a guitar-hero killer even though we bombed the jet song.

will rock out with my...uhhh...maybe i'll just rock out for now,

JD

*one guy even said he was going to boycott GTA IV because rockstar didn't come through with their promised patch date. i'm sure they'll be hurting when that one guy doesn't buy what will most likely be the biggest and best-selling game of 2008.

what i'm playing this week (carcasonne edition)

carcassone

so you may be shocked by the title because yes, i am indeed getting hooked on that free xbox live title that was sent out in november of this year. it was the 5th anniversary of live! and ms wanted to show some love.

either way, i'm just beginning to realize how sweet and fun this game is, but i won't digress into actually explaining it. it's basically (oh well, a little exposition never hurt anybody) a city building board game where you drop pieces and try to get them to connect and close off properly to build roads, cities, monestaries and farmland. you get points if you leave a follower on the land and it gets finished.

either way, it's really fun once you get used to it, and i have the strange suspicion that i've played it before.

brawl

sadly, between this newfound obsession and not being able to let go of some of the more annoying goals in assassin's creed (flags and templars) i've been completely remiss in my brawl time.

it's not that i don't like brawl, it's just that the more i'm forced to play through the sub-space emissary mode, the more i hate nintendo for making it such a long process to unlock all the characters.

i'm just impatient and feeling a slight addiction to achievement points which i'm hoping to just as quickly curb.

reviews

other than that i've been busy writing and publishing some more reviews. just got up my hack and slash review of tony hawk: proving ground where the best thing involved was the music, and i've got an ace combat 6 (i know, old!) review in the bank for next week.

expect reviews of phones, some more games (mostly old) and other reviews to come churning out in the next couple weeks.

the (infamous) rocketmen

oh, and i got my review code for rocketmen last night. jeez. that game kind of sucks. i'm going to keep at it for now though, as i've heard that, like dead rising, it gets a lot more fun when you've upgraded your character enough to be competitive. will get a full review up of that probably next week too.

i'm a busy busy busy bee,

JD

bully patch imminent

well hear it here first (or second if you frequent the site rockstar watch)...

the much lauded and completely real issues with the 360 version of bully, the scholarship edition, are nearly over.

the patch, that rockstar exec sam houser said would take a week (from last friday) is completed and just awaiting go ahead from microsoft QA.

while this news comes third hand, via a nameless rockstar contact that rockstar watch contacted, it's definitely good news.

the issues left the game virtually unplayable for some, with huge framerate issues and worse, freezing problems.

for some it just meant being a little more careful and saving every couple of missions so as not to lose a couple hours of work. for others, what is stated as a problem with the rockstar team developing on newer xbox hardware, not even entire missions are playable before freezing occurs.

the really scary thing is that it seems so random. this is almost as bad as the smash bros. crashes, except that nintendo leapt right up and told everyone to send their consoles away for 'cleaning' and would get them back within a week.

for bully 360 owners, i sincerely hope this patch is as good as they say it is.

but jeez, between guitar hero iii for wii, smash bros. and bully, it's seeming more and more dicey to buy a new game at launch.

sad sad sad,

JD

added! - a new link in the right nav

just wanted to give a quick update that i've added a new link in the 'friendly links' section on the side bar.

jeff gerstmann and ryan davis, of the gamespot-gate debacle fame, have arisen from the ashes and replaced their podcast-arrowpointingdown-with a website and podcast called giant bomb.

i'm a big fan of the podcast and jeff's writing pre-firing, so even though this site is in the infancy stages, i think it's going to be great.

also check out their video series, the aptly titled 'how to build a bomb'-which will no doubt garner them some negative reactions from google, which is a neat insight into what it takes to start your own games website (and the thousands of dollars they appear to be investing.

smash bros. impressions

just wanted to give an update that smash bros. is indeed fun. not sure how much more fun it is than the last two games, but it's neat.

i think it's gotta be the depth of interaction that's stemming the good early reviews because for me, the platforming part of the game just ain't cutting it.

tried to play a little while with jen last night but we both got bored and quit to take up our respective couch hobbies. assassin's creed for me and surfing/blogging/e-mailing for her.

the actual 'smashing'-which is how i refer to the brawl element-is fun but without a big group of people or trying the online play, there's not much to report.

meta knight still kicks ass and i've concluded that the sideways wiimote, and the wiimote and nunchuck combo control schemes are useless. it's wavebird of classic controller all the way.

if anyone thinks any different i'll cut their arms off smite them with all my might be interested to hear about it.

have a smashing and stealthy evening, i know i will,

JD

p.s. i've also figured out how to put my gamercard in the sidebar...so that's new. i know i've not got much in the way of gamerscore but i've only had the 360 2 months, lay off.

it's here!

well, now i feel a little silly about my excitement, but i really am dying to get another crack at this game-SSBB.


the small delay in getting it only further whetted my appetite. it ended up arriving at 5:15, 10 minutes after i left work, and 15 minutes after a receptionist was there to receive it.

another employee on my floor took it in, shoved it in my mail folder in the mailroom, and was goodly enough to leave me a voice mail to tell me it was here (since he didn't know where my desk was).

in my haste to grab it out of the mailroom, i forgot to take down his name and deleted the message. so here's a thank you to the anonymous dude that saved my smash.

arm and legfuls of gratitude,

JD

a rockstar contact

i'm going to need you all to hold your breath right now.

i may have found, through the wonders of google, a pr contact for rockstar games.

for me, this is a little like finding the freaking holy grail.

not that rockstar games are a be-all end-all for me, but it's just that i've been trying to find any form of contact for them for months.

even before my ea/rock band hunt, rockstar was on my list of 'definitely need to get in touch withs'.

oh, and i'm getting semi-jazzed over gta iv. it's shaping up to be quite the game, and a possible return to form for the cats at rockstar. they lost me with san andreas, have kept me unimpressed with the shabby bully port but i'm hoping they rehook me with IV, and make me all misty eyed for the long nights spent awake playing the first GTA and skipped classes in high school to get in some GTA: III action.

if anybody has navigated their site, you'll understand why it caused me so much grief, but huzzah, i will be elated, at least until i figure out that it's a dead e-mail address.

in other news...

here's my review for lost odyssey, as promised.

now that didn't take so long, did it?

anxiously anticipating some brawling,

JD

the waiting game (ssbb edition)

so it's been said before, but is worth noting again that i'm not that excited for super smash bros. brawl.

that is, at least i wasn't.

this weekend i absorbed some of the fever-and stupidity-of the smash bros. fanatics when i visited a larger mall eb games on sunday.

yes, i realize that i was remiss to forget nintendo's decision to release a game on a freakin' sunday, but i nevertheless managed to block out all the nerdling-more than me even-conversations concerning whether stores were sued if they broke street dates and whether or not eb had any copies that weren't already pre-ordered/spoken for.

through that haze of ugliness i did pick up a little excitement-seeing the wall of copies behind the cash at the big mall eb-and now am eagerly anticipating my review copy and starting to worry that the pr firm weren't lying that there is a 'waiting list' and that some folks will have to wait for copies to filter back before getting their hands on one.

i know it's all just anticipation osmosis, but it's fun to be part of it sometimes, isn't it?

i was also contacted by capcom this morning with a new one, an xbox live game review for their new ip, rocketmen.

weird. i've never dealt with review codes or live games before so it'll be interesting if they ever send it to me.

other than that it's just the norm, pumping out a few more past-due reviews (lost odyssey full review and tony hawk: proving grounds should be up this week) and gliding effortlessly through my recently acquired copy of assassin's creed.

stalking the shadows (god that sounds lame),

JD

p.s. just ran into the runner/courier guy for the pr firm that handles nintendo's stuff as i was handing back a very late held copy of the wii fire emblem game and he had nothing to hand me. not a good sign. not a good sign at all.

issues of parenting and bully(ing)

so rockstar has re-released bully on two new consoles and with it comes the controversy.

oh rockstar, where would you be without controversy?

i mean, i get it, teachers want to protect children from bullying. they want to see violence that is too close to a schoolyard and they want to think that somehow it will be another columbine, or somehow just a widespread increase in locker stuffing, slingshot toting bart simpson wannabes...

the real truth in this, at least to me, is that all they're doing is highlighting a small genre of game and helping rockstar shift copies.

after a quick check, it seems the esrb rated this one teen.

there's no guns, no sex, no alien boobies on gritty looking soldier (a la the mass effect controversy). nope, this is a fairly clean game for rockstar.

but what seems to still cause controversy is that it happens in a school, with a 15 year old protagonist who takes vengeance on people who mistreat him.

now i'm not saying that this is admirable or even tolerable behaviour and i had my share of beatdowns in elementary school. but it's hardly the kind of content to get up in arms over.

oh yeah, and you can kiss dudes in this. not sex, not anything particularly lascivious, but you can have same-gender boyfriends.

it's hardly worth even caring about, seeing as how most 13 year olds i've met play call of duty 4 (which has a lot more than slingshots) and grand theft auto: san andreas (which subs actual prostitutes for girlfriends and grenades for stink bombs).

i know, i know, i agree. they shouldn't be playing those games, but the reality is, most of them are. most of the male (and female) younger set are getting their grubby little paws on these games and they're doing it younger than ever. they're not playing carnival games, no. they're playing games with guns, sex, and whatnot and i don't think actively trying to take them away is the right way to fix the problems.

i think it's all on the parents.

sorry, parents, i love you, but you have two duties towards video games and that's it.

1) know what your kid is playing.

it's dead easy with the current generation of consoles. i know specifically that both the wii and the xbox 360 keep a log of the games played and the wii even shows how much time was spent on each.

but that's not just what i meant. you should also know what your kid is playing. i know they think you're uncool and you want to be. but for god sakes, just play the game once. play it with them, or sit with them and have them explain it. if that fails, look it up on the internet.

2) contextualize.

now, some would take that first point and run off and take the games away. i'm against this kind of behaviour because a) it makes whatever you're taking away seem more desirable and b) they're going to find a way to play it anyways.

all kids have friends whose parents are less observant (or more open) than you.

just because you take it away doesn't mean it's gone.

so, in light of this, along with playing the games, try to explain the context to your kid. let them know that, while in a game it's ok, that in real life, it's not as simple.

this may seem like common sense, but you have no idea how many kids can't see the blurry lines between media and reality.

in my day, it was kids copying wrestling moves and injuring and killing each other. now it can be just as dangerous if there's no adult figure there to explain it.

the bottom line:

if you make games taboo, it just means kids will do it behind your back and at times when they've got no help understanding the images they see.

game with your kids, and stay educated. as always the best offense is a good defense, and the best defense knows the other teams plays.

sorry for the preachiness,

JD